First Amendment scholar on the failures of SOPA

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James sez, "First Amendment scholar Marvin Ammori gives a great overview of how Congress has made an effort to protect free speech in the past but are turning a blind eye to the threats to speech rights posed by the Stop Online Piracy Act."

Free speech has remained a quintessential American ideal, even as our society has moved from the ink quill to the touch screen. But as the Internet paves new avenues for speech, Congress seems to be remembering only some of the lessons of our tradition. While lawmakers continues to understand the potential threat from defamation laws, proposed legislation on copyrights shows that many in Congress are willing to overlook threats to free speech similar to those that overzealous defamation laws undoubtedly create.

Kirby Ferguson, who created the remarkable Everything is a Remix series, has a new podcast hosted by the Recreate Coalition called Copy This and he hosted me on the debut episode (MP3) where we talked about copying, creativity, artists, and the future of the internet (as you might expect!).

James Cawley is a 50 year old Elvis impersonator from Ticonderoga, NY; his friend William Ware Theiss was costume-designer for the original Star Trek series, and left Cawley the blueprints for the original Star Trek Enterprise sets in his will — so Cawley rented out a 13,000 sqft shuttered supermarket and built an exquisite replica […]

In much of the world, copyright ends 50 years after the creator’s death, in some of the rest of the world, it ends 70 years after the creator’s death; in the USA, things have stopped going into the public domain until 2019 (unless America decides to retroactively extend copyright…again!).

The Black Friday Mac Bundle 2.0 is one of the Boing Boing Store’s best-selling Mac bundles yet, and it’s about to come to an end. If you don’t get your copy now, here’s what you’ll be missing:This bundle comes packing 9 top-rated Mac apps in one package, at the hugely discounted price of just $23.99. […]

The Boing Boing Store’s Gift Guide is full of ideas for pretty much anyone in your life like hipster ice cub trays, Xbox controllers, Halo Boards, and even diamond necklaces. As always, all products in the Boing Boing Store come at great discounts, too. Shop by price bucket starting at under $20. Under $20:Bloxx Jumbo Ice Trays […]

Unlike traditional lighters, the SaberLight features an electronic plasma beam that’s both rechargeable and butane-free. This sleek lighter is even approved by TSA, so you’ll never be stuck buying lighters you’ll just have to throw away partially used. For some people, like me, this is a pretty big game-changer. The SaberLight’s beam is actually both hotter and cleaner […]

I’ve been watching the arguments and voting live, and honestly it is sickening to watch. You have a tiny minority of voices who have a keen grasp of the failings of this bill up against a majority that is clearly clueless. It’s horrifying to see insightful and well backed arguments shot down with no sense of due consideration. Some of the arguments are as simple as “It won’t work, will break the internet, and all the experts overwhelmingly stand against it” but still they are met with a chorus of ignorance. I’ve heard no arguments in support of the bill that even attempt to undermine the arguments against. It is literally a case of “ignorant majority rules”. I simply can’t understand how this process isn’t being torn to pieces by mainstream news. Any five minute section of what I’ve seen today and yesterday could be used as a clear and concise example of the massive and laughable failure that SOPA has been from day one, and the failure of the US political system to prevent it being perpetrated upon us all.